The Energon Pub

by **clay** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 12:31 pm

I used Soundwave's Oblivion for the reference picture of the robot mode. The color scheme translated to the Mustang very easily.

I wanted to do some yellow and purple stripes on the car to help break up the monotony of the black and keep the colors consistently present, but the Mustang's anatomy is somewhat less apt for that than I had hoped. Not ruling it out, though...

He still needs an antenna on the top of his head, but the problem there is the lack of space in the car mode. It needs to be something flexible or removable, like a pipecleaner.

I've got plans for Kickback whenever my next Meister gets here, but I'm set to start Shrapnel next.

by **Ramrider** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 2:42 pm

Not bad at all.
Can't help thinking there should be more black on his head - the all-grey looks a bit bland - but the likeness is pretty good. And I definitely think go-faster stripes are the way forward. I'm thinking maybe purple stripes with thin silver outlines?

As for the antenna, is there any chance you'd be able to make it as a detachable piece that fits under the car where the sword goes?

by **clay** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 3:33 pm

The stripes I had planned were actually purple and yellow:

The problem is that the clearance between the door mirrors and the front wheel hubs is very slim. That makes putting the masking tape down a bit tricky.

I've actually got a great little piece for an antennae that I nicked from an R2D2 arm extension. I suppose I could carve a notch into the top of the head to place it, but I wouldn't have any room for error.

by **Ramrider** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 6:49 pm

Actually, scrap my idea... those colours look great.

If you're concerned about being able to rig perfectly straight lines along the side, how about doing stripes deliberately not straight? You could try a nice curve that follows the lines of the bodywork, or even something a little more jaggedy, like my Fusion Slicer or Superquad7's Roadwarp and Screamer.

by **clay** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:16 pm

The thing is I want the stripes to be straight, not just to look good, but to give a unifying theme to the three of them in their vehicle modes. If I do stripes in a fancier way, I may not be able to reproduce them on the jeep or mazda.

Anyway, I was playing with some masking tape this afternoon, and I think I can make some traditional stripes well. I meant to paint some between my nap and work, but the nap ran long...

I should have some progress tomorrow, though. At the very least, I'll fix up the head.

by **clay** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:29 pm

The finished product! Stripes and head detail!

A pose shot to show the how the stripes break up the black in robot mode:

And a normal stance:

by **Tramp** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 6:40 pm

Not bad, but you need to clean the stripes up a bit. I recommend using an ultra-fine Sharpie metalic silver pen and drawing fine pin-stripes along the edges of the larger stripes

by **clay** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:26 pm

Yeah, the stripes are bit ragged because the primer liked to seep under the tape a bit.

I'm not sure if I have access to that kind of marker, though. What I may do is tape everything down again and airbrush black along the top and bottom of each stripe to get a clean line back.

For the other two insecticons I may actually do the stripes first, and then tape them off and proceed to paint the rest of the exteriors black. That'd make the leaky primer irrelevant...

by **Ramrider** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:26 pm

Actually, I personally recommend not cleaning up the stripes; I think the kind of scribbled-looking edge looks really cool. Me likey lots.

by **Tramp** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:34 pm

clay wrote:Yeah, the stripes are bit ragged because the primer liked to seep under the tape a bit.

I'm not sure if I have access to that kind of marker, though. What I may do is tape everything down again and airbrush black along the top and bottom of each stripe to get a clean line back.

For the other two insecticons I may actually do the stripes first, and then tape them off and proceed to paint the rest of the exteriors black. That'd make the leaky primer irrelevant...

No, the stripes should always be done last.

by **plowking** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:45 pm

Ramrider wrote:Actually, I personally recommend not cleaning up the stripes; I think the kind of scribbled-looking edge looks really cool. Me likey lots.

I agree

by **clay** » Thu Dec 21, 2006 8:18 pm

What I really need are clearer pictures.

Anyway, I may just leave as-is for the moment and touch it up later, depending on how the three of them look together. That's really the only purpose of the stripes - to give the group a unifying theme in vehicle mode. I'll just do Shrapnel and Kickback differently. Everything is a learning experience, eh?

by **clay** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 1:19 am

Cleaned the edges of the stripes a bit.

Now the yellow and purple are a bit uneven... but I'm getting sick of looking at this thing, so I think I'll leave it alone now.

Lesson learned? Primer bleeds under masking tape and makes a mess.

by **TM skids** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 2:17 am

looking nice very nice , Mustang looks very swish in black you'll have to stop soon you keep giving me ideas

Has any one done the deluxe insecticons as Alts am sure i read somewhere on here of someone threatening to but havent seen any final results?

by **Ramrider** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 8:27 am

Still nice, but I've gotta say I liked it better before you cleaned the stripes up. They looked kind of like they'd been put on freehand with a spray can, grafitti-style, and I thought it looked pretty dynamic.

by **Tramp** » Fri Dec 22, 2006 5:44 pm

I disagree. This looks ten times better than before. Also,having the stripes different widths is actually better design than having both the same width.

by **clay** » Sat Dec 23, 2006 3:18 pm

Ramrider wrote:Still nice, but I've gotta say I liked it better before you cleaned the stripes up. They looked kind of like they'd been put on freehand with a spray can, grafitti-style, and I thought it looked pretty dynamic.

Possibly, but cosmetics aside, I wanted to learn how to fix ragged stripes since I'll be doing the same for the other two. There'll always be those pictures of the graffiti stripes, though

skids wrote:you'll have to stop soon you keep giving me ideas

That's the nicest compliment I think I've gotten... thanks!

I may also have found a solution to the antennae problem. Right now, I've got a 20 gauge wire curled around the screw in the back of the head, and it's appropriately flexible to survive transforming. I just need to thicken up the exposed part that makes the antennae itself. Maybe wrapping electrical tape around it and painting it would work?

by **clay** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 2:46 pm

One more little last thing: the antennae.

It's a 20 gauge wire looped around the screw in the back of the head, so it's firmly attached. I wrapped it with electrical tape to thicken it up.

Since it's a wire, and since wires bend, it can be rotated to the side and transformed back into vehicle mode without detaching anything.

Pretty cool, huh?